


Cats

by glassclosetcastiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cats, Cute, Destiel - Freeform, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2525306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glassclosetcastiel/pseuds/glassclosetcastiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Charlie goes out of town, Dean is left to take care of her cats. "Maybe bring Cas over?" She had called over her shoulder as she left. "He likes cats, right?" And she'd winked. Dean had tried not to think about the wink.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cats

"Why do you need me to come again, Dean?" Castiel's tinny voice asked, and Dean sighed as he shouldered the phone with one hand, unlocking the Impala with the other.

"Because she has damn cats, and somebody needs to _play with them._ " He practically spat this last part out. _Fucking cats, goddamn it, cats don't need anybody to play with them, they're goddamn cats._ Still, Charlie's instructions had been clear. They needed attention. _Fucking cats._

"Cats?" Castiel asked, and Dean shook his head a little at the uptick in enthusiasm in his friend's voice.

"Yes, Cas, cats. Four of them. Will you come?"

"Of course, Dean." As if rolling around on the ground with a fucking cat were some sort of important mission. _Whatever._ As long as Dean didn't have to touch the furballs.

Dean's friend, Charlie, had gone out of town, leaving Dean with her keyring, a bag of cat treats, and an ungodly long list of instructions. "Oh, watch out for Voldemort. He'll probably be hiding under my bed. He can get kind of grouchy," she had explained to him, pressing a twenty-dollar bill into his hand. "And make sure Crookshanks gets these eye drops twice a day, she has this leaky eye situation," she pulled a small bottle of clear liquid from her shoulder bag and added it to the top of Dean's pile of crap. "Oh, and I cleaned up the spare bedroom for you. Vacuumed it all up, changed the sheets, all that good stuff. I've kept the door closed so it should be totally allergen-free." She had given him that wide, toothy grin of hers, and had hugged him tightly around the middle, carefully avoiding the teetering pile in his arms. "Thank you so much you're the best best friend everrrrr." And Dean hadn't been able to keep his angry face fixed in place, so he opted for a long, growling sigh, and had allowed Charlie to kiss him on the cheek. "Maybe bring Cas over?" She had called over her shoulder as she left. "He likes cats, right?" And she'd winked. Dean had tried not to think about the wink.

Dean stopped at a CVS on the way to his friend's house, and bypassed the greasy man behind the counter, who only managed to bleat a tired, "welcome to CVS," before Dean was already out of earshot. The cold and flu aisle was a sea of green and white and yellow boxes, floral prints and leaf patterns and happy, smiling people. _Just give me a box that has a cat with an X over it,_ Dean grumbled to himself, pursing his lips as he picked up a box for closer examination. Benadryl. _Sure._ He wound his way back to the clerk and paid- _no, I do not have a CVS card, no, I do not want to get a CVS card, yes, I realize it's free and will only take a moment of my time_ \- telling the clerk he didn't need a plastic bag for a fucking tiny box. He positively seethed at the three-foot long coil of a receipt the guy handed him instead.

Castiel was waiting on the front steps of his house when Dean pulled up, wearing that stupid maroon hoodie that he was so fond of, and carrying a backpack. "What's in the bag?" Dean asked as his friend slung the sack into the back and folded himself into the passenger seat. 

"Overnight stuff," Castiel replied.

"Oh good," Dean said, a little more sarcastically than he'd intended.

"Dean," Castiel began as the Impala pulled into the street.

"I'm fine," Dean sighed, knowing the question before Cas even asked it. He chanced a glance in his friend's direction, and saw the familiar worried expression there that he'd come to know was reserved just for him. "It's just, you know. Cats." That was enough of an explanation. Castiel nodded his head sympathetically.

"Why did you tell her you would look after them? Doesn't she know you're allergic?"

"Yeah, she knows. She didn't have anyone else to call. Sam's with Jess or I woulda asked him to do it. Anyway, she told me to bring you along because she knows you love cats, so. Play with 'em." Dean stared straight ahead as he drove. It was gonna be a _really_ long night.

\--

Dean pulled the jangly hunk of keys out of his pocket, remembering that the one attached to the triforce key chain would unlock the deadbolt. He ascended the two flights of stairs up to Charlie's apartment with Cas in tow and paused in front of the door. "Alright, I don't know where they're at, so just, you know. Be careful. Don't let any of 'em come flyin' out the door. If you lose one, your ass is running after it, not mine."

It turned out that, apparently, all four cats were either afraid of new people or were too disinterested to care about escape. They didn't encounter a cat at all as they trudged through Charlie's living room and wound up in the kitchen, plopping their supplies and bags on the counter. _Almost like they're not even here at all,_ Dean almost managed to get out before he was suddenly sneezing. Once. Twice. Three times. After each sneeze, Castiel would bless him. "Ye-CHOO! Yes, thank you Cas. I get it."

"Didn't you take any allergy medicine?" Castiel asked, face flickering between genuine concern and amusement at Dean's sneeze attack.

"Got 'eb right here," Dean sniffled, pulling the box from his back pocket.

"Dean, you're supposed to take it beforehand. It could take hours to work."

"Whatever," Dean said, pulling a Star Wars cup from a cabinet and filling it with water from the tap. He popped two pills out of the blister pack and downed them, chugging the rest of the water. "You want anything?" He asked Castiel, although it came out more like, "you waht adythihg?" He didn't see Castiel's adoring smile at his back as he bent into the refrigerator and pulled out two beers.

"I'm fine," Castiel replied, downplaying the smile as his friend turned around, but Dean caught it. He began to say something but was cut off by another sneeze attack. This time, Castiel laughed and grabbed the beers from Dean's hands before they could come tumbling to the ground.

"Shut. Up." Dean huffed, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

\--

It didn't take long for the proverbial curiosity to set in, as a fluffy orange face appeared around the doorframe to Charlie's room once Dean and Cas had settled themselves onto respective living room chairs to browse Netflix. Dean was halfway through an explanation of the plot of Braveheart when he heard, _"Dean, look,"_ Castiel's blue eyes were round as saucers as he traced the flick of the cat's bottlebrush tail.

"Oh, great. That's the one with the eye problem. Goddamn it. I'm supposed to give it eye drops."

Castiel had somehow already sunk to the ground, soundlessly, and was sitting cross-legged, scratching at the carpet in short bursts. The cat's tail flicked back and forth in time. Dean watched as the fluffy monstrosity hunched itself forward and began a weird butt-wiggling dance, eyes never leaving Castiel's hand on the carpet. Cas began crawling his fingers forward, like Thing from The Addams Family, and the cat's yellow eyes gave way to black as it honed in on its target. In a flash of orange, the cat was across the room and attacking Castiel, who let out a yelp and a giggle- _a fucking giggle_ \- before proceeding to tickle the cat all over. Dean couldn't help but grin as he watched the whole ridiculous thing play out in front of him.

"Alright, that's enough. Grab that thing, will ya? I've gotta do these drops." Dean rose to his feet and fished the eye drops from his pocket as Castiel scooped up the large, moderately protesting cat and cradled it like a baby.

"He's so fluffy," Castiel observed, grinning like a kid at the owlish thing in his arms.

"Yeah, he's adorable," Dean quipped. "Come 'ere."

After only a few scratches and an unfortunate tail-whipping to Dean's face, the cat was eye-dropped and released, and slipped back into the depths of Charlie's room. "Good riddance," Dean called after it, before being taken by a sneezing fit. "God-ACHOO-dammit!"

Castiel found a washcloth in a drawer next to the sink and wet it slightly, smiling privately to himself. Dean had already settled back into his chair and selected Braveheart- _It's a classic, I can't believe you haven't seen it, how have we been friends all this time and you haven't seen it?_ \- so Castiel simply held the washcloth out to his friend, eyebrows raised a bit in a silent question. _Do you want to do it or do you want me to do it?_ Dean opted to take the cloth himself and wipe his face, feeling the long, soft hairs brush against his nose and eyelashes. "Thanks, Cas," he said, handing the cloth back to Castiel, who accepted it with a smile. Dean felt a familiar little flutter at the top of his breastbone, and returned his gaze to the tv, hoping the low lighting would mask his sudden flush. Castiel was always sweet to him- always- even when Dean was a crabby little shit. He knew he didn't deserve a friend like Cas, but he was just selfish enough not to care.

"Want some popcorn?" Castiel called from the kitchen, and Dean sighed contentedly. "Yes, please." _Yep, definitely too selfish to care._

\--

After Castiel had settled down next to Dean the large, ceramic bowl of popcorn balancing on the arm rests between them, the movie was un-paused and the volume cranked up. Dean's sniffles punctuated the film at seemingly regular intervals, and Castiel began stealing more glances at Dean that at the screen. "Cas," Dean hissed, keeping his eyes straight ahead, "watch the movie. I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine, Dean," Castiel replied, moving the empty bowl to the coffee table. "You sound like you're suffocating."

"I'm good," Dean said, but it came out as a yawn.

"Oh good, it's kicking in," Cas said, returning focus to the screen.

"What?"

"The benadryl. It makes you sleepy."

"Oh."

Three minutes later, Dean was snoring, so Castiel paused the movie, knowing his friend would be upset if he finished it without him. There was a scrambling sound from behind them, and a black kitten was suddenly clawing its way up over the back of Dean's chair. _Awww,_ Castiel mouthed, and scooped the kitten into his arms. It purred appreciatively as Castiel scratched behind its ears. "Hi," he whispered, running a thumb along the length of the kitten's nose and up over its head. "You're very cute." The kitten mewled, and Castiel slowly uncurled himself from his seat to go check the food dishes. He shook his head good-naturedly when he saw that they were empty. He knew Dean wouldn't have fed them. He couldn't bring himself to be annoyed at his sleeping best friend, so he instead set the kitten down in front of the dishes and shook out a small amount of dry food into each bowl. He sat cross-legged on the ground and stroked the kitten's velvety-black fur as it ate.

When he returned, he discovered that a grey and white striped tabby had settled itself on Dean's lap, and Dean was responding with strangled little choking snore-bursts. "No!" castiel whisper-hissed, grabbing the cat as gingerly as he could. Naturally, the cat's front paws were latched into Dean's shirt, so he shifted the tabby over one arm like a tea-towel and used the other hand to gently unhook its claws from Dean's shirt. _There,_ he sighed, and plopped the cat down at another bowl beside the black kitten.

This wouldn't do. Cats would be crawling all over Dean in his sleep and he'd probably wake up with a sinus infection. He patted his friend's knee. "Dean, wake up. Dean."

"Wha?" One green eye popped open, the other scrunched closed.

"You're sleeping and cats are crawling all over you. Come on."

"Nah, I'maright," Dean slurred, closing his eye again. Castiel grabbed his hands and pulled.

"Nope, come on, Dean, you're going to have a sinus infection if you stay out here. Come on." He hoisted Dean to his feet and led him, slowly, to Charlie's bedroom. Dean woke up just enough to protest.

"No, Voldemort," he huffed, rubbing his eye, and Castiel caught his hand and pulled it away, knowing that his hands were probably covered in dander by now.

"Voldemort?" he asked, a smile playing at his lips.

"Voldemort. Grouchy," Dean insisted, eyes nearly opening. "Spare bedroom." He gestured vaguely to the closed door down the hall, and Castiel understood, at least partially. Dean didn't let go of his friend's hand as helped him to the spare room and opened the door. From the ambient light of the kitchen, Castiel could see a simple twin bed with downy white pillows. Dean went to flop onto the bed, but Castiel stopped him.

"Take that shirt off, there's hair all over it," Cas said, and helped Dean pull the t-shirt over his head. "There. Okay," Castiel murmured as he saw to it that his friend was safely lowered onto the mattress. He helped pull the blankets up and around his shoulders and whispered, "good night, Dean."

"Wait, Cas," Dean sniffled as Castiel turned to leave.

"Yes, Dean?"

"Where you goin'?"

"I'll sleep in a chair."

"No, don't be ridiculous. Stay here, it's so comfortable." Dean sounded coherent again, so Castiel wasn't sure that he could chalk this up the medicine, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. He suddenly felt like he'd developed his own breathing problem. 

"Dean, this bed is tiny."

"We'll fit," Dean insisted, and Castiel just smiled and said, "okay." In the soft light from the windows, he shut the door and came to the other side of the bed, but Dean stopped him again. "No, your shirt. You're covered..." he trailed off, but Cas understood. He pulled the offending hoodie and t-shirt off and sank into the bed after tossing them into a corner, knowing full-well that he had a perfectly fresh, cat hair-free shirt in his overnight bag. He supposed Dean knew that, too. Neither one of them said anything about it.

Castiel edged as close as he could to the side of the bed and hunkered into the soft, pillowy blanket. Even as far over as he was, he was still brushing bare shoulders with Dean. The touch was warm and inviting, and Castiel tried not to lean into it. Dean sniffed. "How are you feeling?" Castiel asked.

"I'm okay," Dean replied, sleepily. "A little cold." Castiel thought he could hear a heart beating, although he couldn't be sure whose it was. Slowly, easily, he turned to face Dean and began scooching in so that his front was fitted along Dean's side. He was still nervous about just what the heck he was doing when Dean reached over and pulled his arm across his chest. Cas closed his eyes and let out a happy little sigh. He rested his fingers on the hard, flat plane over his friend's sternum and allowed his head to fall into the space between Dean's head and shoulder. 

"Is this okay?" He whispered into Dean's ear.

"Yeah," Dean whispered back.

"Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"What's Voldemort?"

In the darkened room, Dean rolled his eyes and turned his head, shutting his friend up with a kiss. Castiel kissed back and nuzzled closer. Instinctively, Dean swept his arm over Cas's shoulders, pulling him closer into his side. Their mouths came together in delicate, staccato bursts, allowing Dean enough time to breathe through his mouth. It was clumsy, and would probably seem ridiculous later, _but at least,_ Dean thought, _the sneezing had finally stopped._ After a few minutes, he felt Castiel smiling into his mouth, and he pulled his head back a bit. "What?" he asked, pulling in a deep breath through his mouth.

"Nothing," Castiel hummed, settling his head in the crook of Dean's shoulder. He traced loose patterns along Dean's firm chest and smiled again. "Just," he began, searching the dark for Dean's face, "thank Charlie for me."

\--

The next morning, Dean woke to find Castiel sitting up on the edge of the bed, watching him. He was cradling a sleeping black kitten. Dean groaned a little, but couldn't help but smile as he stretched. Cas was still shirtless. It reminded him that last night hadn't just been an awesome dream. "Cas," he said, halfheartedly, "watching a dude while he's sleeping? 's creepy."

But to his delight, Castiel just smirked and let a hand rest on Dean's thigh. "I thought it might be fine, just this once."

The sleeping kitten opened its eyes, then, and Dean saw that they were the same startling blue color as his friend's. He watched with half-lidded eyes as Castiel's hand fell back to the kitten, the two of them watching Dean with contentment, and Dean thought that maybe, _maybe,_ cats weren't so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I draw from real-life experiences with me and my girlfriend. We are apparently an endless well of Destiel parallels. I hope you enjoyed it :)


End file.
